


Contradiction

by JRaylin441



Series: Briareus [4]
Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Ada doesn't know what to do, But Ed totally steamrolls her on this mission so, Gen, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, She has a really rough day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-02
Updated: 2016-06-02
Packaged: 2018-07-11 18:03:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7064326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JRaylin441/pseuds/JRaylin441
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A day in the life of poor Ada, who just wanted a stress-free day of catching a convict with the help of the Fullmetal Alchemist. It doesn't go quite the way she planned, but at least she'll have some good stories for her son...</p><p> </p><p>  <i>Ada refused to admit that she was a little excited to see what the Fullmetal Alchemist was going to be like. He didn’t look like a child, simply an adult with the height of a child. She knew everything he had accomplished and everything that he was rumored to have done, and she knew that this was no longer a boy in front of her.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Contradiction

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, this is one of the oneshots I'm more proud of. But what do I know? Either way, maybe you could drop me a line and let me know what you thought?

Ada was a very logical woman. She prided herself on this fact. All throughout her life, she had avoided the hero-worship of prominent figures that her friends had gotten caught up in. Sure, she would admit that some of the men were attractive, but that didn’t make them anything more than regular human beings. She hadn’t known what to _look_ for, then, when she started to feel herself holding one person above the others. She hadn’t known what was happening until the admiration overwhelmed her logical thought process.

It was all Gil’s fault, to be honest. _He_ was the one who always wanted a bed-time story revolving around a boy-alchemist who was somehow able to outsmart and overcome any obstacle placed in his path. It was _Gil_ who always got a sparkle in his eye when he saw pictures of Edward Elric in the newspaper, and _Gil_ who would buy the papers and bring them home to tack up on his bedroom walls. _Gil_ who talked on and on through dinner about what the kids at school were saying, and how Edward had once taken on _twenty men_ at the same time like it was nothing.

He wanted to be a state alchemist when he grew up, he said. Like Edward Elric.

So Ada happened to go out of her way to learn more about Edward Elric. She worked in the military, and it was easy to come by information like that. If it made her son happy, then why wouldn’t she?

As she stared down at the assignment, she promised herself that that was all this was. She was not excited to work with Major Elric because he was some sort of superior being. She was simply looking forward to bringing home more stories for Gil. Honestly.

*~*~*

The arrival of the Fullmetal Alchemist was preceded by a loud voice complaining from the end of the hall. Ada listened as the complaints moved closer and closer to the door of her office before it flew open. A hulking suit of armor stood behind a bundle of energy wrapped up in the body of a short, fourteen-year-old boy with golden hair and eyes. Both were framed by the pale wood of the doorframe.

Ada wasn’t fazed by the unorthodox appearance of the boys. There were pictures of them taped up all around the house. She also didn’t mistake the armor for the legendary alchemist, because _‘people always think his little brother is the alchemist because he wears a suit of armor but it makes Edward really angry because he doesn’t like it when people overlook him because he doesn’t like that he’s short.’_ Ada refused to admit that she was a little excited to see what the Fullmetal Alchemist was going to be like. He didn’t look like a child, simply an adult with the height of a child. She knew everything he had accomplished and everything that he was rumored to have done, and she knew that this was no longer a boy in front of her.

“Hello Edward. I assume that this is your brother Alphonse.” Ada stood up to shake both of their hands. Edward smirked a little and surveyed the office while she did so, as if his attention had already been captured by something bigger and better than her. Alphonse gave a little bow in return. “Before we get started, I have a quick request?”

Edward waved a hand over his shoulder before settling deep into a cushy chair in the corner of her office. “Sure lady. What do you need?”

“This is so embarrassing.” Ada gave a little laugh. “I was wondering if you could sign an autograph for my son? He is very fond of you.” The smirk that had been trapped in the corner of Edward’s mouth since he entered the room grew into a behemoth of a smug expression.

“Sure.” He took the proffered sheet of paper with a little flourish of his hand, looking like the cat who caught the canary. “What’s your son’s name?”

“Gilbert.”

“And how old is he?”

“Nine.”

Edward waved the paper in the air to dry the ink before handing it back. Stretching his hands behind his head, he settled deeper into the chair, looking for all the world as though he owned the office. The autograph seemed to have made him grow a few more inches in confidence alone.

“So, how about we go catch this baddie?” He hopped out of the chair and left the office, knocking his right hand against his brother’s chest plate as he went. Answering his unspoken invitation, Ada followed.

*~*~*

He had a very unusual method of investigation. To put it simply, Edward Elric would stroll down a busy street, casually talking to the people he passed. _How are you? Lovely weather. Hey, have you happened to see my uncle? He’s just over six feet tall and he’s got long black hair. A scar under the right eye. No? Thanks anyway._ It was like an entirely different person from the one she had seen in her office had taken over his body. He was genial and charming, convincing even the most reserved people to put in a word or two. Not even the intimidating suit of armor could stop the common people from feeling comfortable around him.

Ada felt like she should be taking notes.

“Brother, focus!” She had only looked away for a moment, but in that time it seemed as though Edward Elric had completely forgotten what he was doing. Apparently, all it took was a street vendor selling honey-roasted nuts. The sticky-sweet smell had caught the Fullmetal Alchemist’s nose and he was visibly salivating as he cleared a way through the crowd.

For a moment, Ada felt frustration well up inside of her. There were lives at stake, and if they didn’t put their full efforts toward catching this man, it would be their faults when more people suffered. Yet here this man was, digging into his pockets for spare coins while he deliberated between walnuts and almonds. His brother was coming up behind him now, and reached out to grab his shoulder, but Edward Elric seemed to sense the movement and shifted out of the way at the last second. They kept that up for a good minute, Edward dodging and ogling the cart while his brother tried to catch him and the vendor tried to comprehend exactly what was happening.

*~*~*

“The people here are great! I’ve never had a street vendor give me free food before.” They were headed down a side street, the sun burning at their backs. Edward was happily munching on his walnuts, tossing them in the air and trying to catch them, while occasionally stopping to lick the sugar from his fingertips. He looked completely content with himself and his life in that moment, and Ada marveled at the way such a simple thing could make him so happy. She decided not to tell him that the only reason the nuts were free was because the vendor had looked ready to do anything to get the fighting boys away from his cart.

“So where are we going?”

Edward tracked the motion of another walnut through the air, caught it, and devoured it before replying. “The woman said that she saw him around here last night, at the restaurant on the corner. We’re gonna go check it out.” Oh. How had Ada missed that conversation? It had probably occurred sometime in the immediate aftermath of the street vendor fiasco, when she had been distracted by the vague annoyance she was feeling toward Edward Elric.

He was slightly obnoxious, and highly immature, but he was also very efficient. Somehow, he had managed to find a better lead than Ada ever would have, all while causing a great ruckus.

The restaurant was on their right, open but empty, as it was currently the lazy part of the afternoon, when people were making the last push to finish their work and everyone felt an alluring call from their bed. Edward stood in the middle of the street and stared up at the buildings around him.

“That one.” He pointed to an open window across the street from the restaurant, two floors above the foot traffic.

“Hmm?” There was no way that he had already found something.

“Look. Do you see the green coat hanging on that chair? The woman said he was wearing something just like that.” A smirk screaming Edward’s sense of superiority appeared. “Never wear conspicuous clothing. It makes people remember you.”

Did he even realize what he was saying? “Brother, you know that you are wearing a bright red coat.”

“Yeah, Al, but we’re on a team with the _good guys_.” Edward rolled his eyes and started off down the street. “He’s not in right now. We’ll have to come back tonight and see if he stops by.” Ada trailed after the pair, marveling at how simple Edward’s world view seemed to be at times. Good guys and bad guys. He had such a firm sense of right and wrong. Idealistic, almost, but with the authority to back it up. In a way, it was like he still had a child’s view on the world.

Something clenched in Ada’s stomach and she decided to think about something else instead.

*~*~*

They stopped to wait at a little café on the edge of town. Much like the restaurant, it was empty. Even the flies that trundled through the air seemed about ready to faint. Ada sipped a signature drink with a name she couldn’t remember. All that mattered was that it was cold and frothy, and just the thing she had needed to perk back up. Edward and Alphonse, on the other hand, had slipped outside to ‘find a way to pass the time’.

Out of curiosity, Ada picked up her drink and moved to an outdoor table, trying to spot the major and his brother. It wasn’t a difficult task. They had taken over the empty lot to the side of the café and seemed to be sparring. She might have been worried for their safety, but one look at Edward’s face told her that there was nothing to worry about. His head was thrown back in a laugh as he flew through the air toward his brother, a gleeful viciousness in his eyes. He burned golden in the sun, next to his brother’s silver, and together they were almost painfully bright.

Still, something about the joy in Edward’s face tugged at her memory. Something in the way that he was laughing and grinning. It was like the delight she often witnessed in her son’s eyes when he played a game of tag with his friends.

*~*~*

It was a few minutes before their plan was to take action, and the Elrics and Ada had gathered in her office to go over it a final time.

“So we’ll go to the restaurant and get a table outside. Al will face the window and keep an eye on it, since it’s harder to see where he is looking. I will sit facing the other direction and find occasional excuses to look. Ada, you take a seat facing the window and keep an eye out, but don’t look too often, or it’ll be clear what we’re doing. Hopefully he’ll show up while we’re there. We’ll meet up when it’s time to go in. Any questions?”

The plan was logical and Ada didn’t have anything to add to it, so she shook her head, ignoring the niggling doubt that had been building throughout the day. He outranked her. He clearly knew what he was doing. She needed to stop worrying so much.

“Great. Al and I will go first. You follow in a few minutes.” As he spoke, Edward shucked off the long red coat that had been wrapped around his shoulders all day, and in every picture Ada had ever seen. He looked smaller without it, like a watered-down version of himself.

“Brother, I thought you said that the good guys didn’t need to dress inconspicuously.”

“They do when they’re trying to catch the bad guys.” He folded the fabric and placed it on the chair he had seemingly claimed as his own. On his way towards the door, he cast one last mournful glance over his shoulder, just like Gil used to do when they were trying to teach him to sleep without a security blanket.

Everything Ada had tried to ignore throughout the day came pouring back, and the realization struck like a smack to the face.

He was just a kid. Shit, he was just a little kid, five years older than Gil. This was not a man and not the military genius that she had deluded herself into seeing. This was a teenage boy who liked to eat sugary foods, play games with his brother, and wear flashy clothing. He wasn’t pompous or arrogant or anything else that she had thought throughout the day. He was _just a boy_. And it was too late for Ada to do something. She could only watch as the door to her office slammed shut. For a brief moment, she did not see Edward Elric raising his hand in a behind-the-shoulder wave, but Gil. Gil with his blue eyes sparkling and his cowlick sticking straight up in the air, walking off to set up an ambush in hopes of catching a convict.

_How could she have been so stupid?_

Ed probably didn’t even notice anymore, that he was treated like an adult. The press had made him out to be this middle-aged man in a teenaged body, and the public had followed until Ed probably couldn’t remember what it was like to be a kid.

But he was one. Shit, only five years older than Gil.

Ada barely made it to the restroom before the bile climbed up her throat.

*~*~*

Ed an Al were talking and laughing while the eldest inhaled enough food for three people. From her assigned seat at the restaurant, Ada found herself spending more time watching them than the window. Of course he was eating so much. Fourteen was still growing, just entering the phase where he would become a vacuum for food. From where she was sitting, it looked like they were just two normal people (well, a normal person and a man in a suit of armor) having dinner.

There was no time to stop what was going to happen. She had come to realize the immorality of this too late, and there was no way to signal to Ed that she didn’t feel like following through. Not if it meant that a boy was going to have to do the kind of work grown men were afraid of. The potatoes she had ordered sat heavily in her roiling stomach, and she drummed her fingers against her thigh, praying, praying, praying that the man wouldn’t come home.

Then Al tapped his fork against his plate and Ed stiffened in his chair. The lamplight eyes shifted in Ada’s direction and he nodded to her. Without a word, Ada got up and went to pay her bill. She slipped out into the street and leaned against the wall, waiting for her partners to join her.

It didn’t take long.

There were no steps, rushed and clumsy with the eagerness of youth, to announce Ed’s arrival. He simply appeared beside her, seeming to melt out of the shadows in the dark clothing worn under his coat. One finger was pressed to his lips, and he began moving down the street toward the entrance to the apartment. What should have been an impressive display of stealth was reduced to a silly game of let’s-play-spies by the boy’s youth. Even so, he made it to the building, clapped his hands to remove the lock, and drifted up the stairs toward the room with the window.

He paused for a moment at the door, taking one deep breath, and then kicked it open and burst into the room. The wild motion revealed the flash of a knife in his right hand – Ada fought an overwhelming need to _snatch_ it away from him – as Ed let out a manic laugh and a smile full of boyish glee.

For a moment the man was shocked. He was sitting on a couch in house clothes, listening to the radio, but within seconds Ed was perched atop him, a lethal blade held to the man’s neck. He had not, however, gotten the reputation he had for no reason. The convict grabbed Ed by the shoulder and flipped him onto the floor, landing over him while his hand scrabbled for a knife on the coffee table. Ada grabbed her gun, but the two figures were moving too much for a guaranteed shot. Before she had time to cry out and warn him, the convict slashed down at the wrist of Ed’s knife hand, intent on drawing blood.

A horrible screeching sound wrenched through the air when the metal made contact, and the fabric of Ed’s shirt sleeve tore away to leave glinting metal underneath. Taking advantage of his opponent’s pause, Ed landed a firm kick to the convict’s chest. While the man reeled for balance, the Fullmetal Alchemist stripped off the now-restricting torn shirt, revealing an entire arm’s worth of automail. Ada, too distracted by this development, missed the chance for a shot, and Ed threw himself back into the fray before she could recover.

He moved like mercury and grinned like it was all a joke. The man never really stood a chance.

Sure, he got in one lucky swipe, and scratched a scarlet line along the boy’s jaw, but in the end there was an escaped convict dragged to his knees by transmuted flooring and kneeling in front of the alchemist victorious. Ed raised his metal arm for the final blow and

And Ada’s world slowed down. Because she finally started to understand. Ed was an inferno of morality before her, glinting silver and gold, mature and childish, young and so, so old. She did not understand, but she accepted that she never would, and in a way that was the same thing.

The automail fell, and the convict fell to the ground, unconscious.

“I don’t kill people.” Ed replied to her questioning glance, and it was a man’s declaration of a child’s morals.

“No.” She felt herself saying, quite outsider her own body. “I don’t suppose that you would.”

*~*~*

Gil heard the door open that night and came running, his footsteps uneven and stumbling in his excitement and innocence.

“Hey mom.” He made to move out of the doorway, back into the house, but Ada knelt and reached out a shaking hand, puller him to her.

For a long, long moment, she held her young son to her chest, just a boy, and when she let go, she promised herself that her eyes would be dry.

“You said you were gonna work with Edward Elric today. Did you really get to?” He wiggled in her grasp and she released him.

“Yes, Gil. I really did.” She would not cry.

“That’s _so cool_. What was he like? Did you mistake his brother for him? Did you see him do alchemy? Did he…”

She would _not_.


End file.
